David Jason: 'I only got into acting because I was the school plonker'

A teacher made 'idiot' Jason the lead role in a play and the Only Fools and Horses stay just took it from there

David Jason as Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses (Photo: Scope Features)

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He has become one of the most famous actors in the industry thanks to unforgettable characters such as Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter and detective Jack Frost.

But David Jason has revealed his five-decade career in the spotlight almost never was – because he thought acting was for “sissies”.

The much-loved actor, now 73, also admitted he was rejected for the role of cockney chancer Del Boy because Only Fools and Horses bosses thought he wasn’t good enough.

Speaking as his new autobiography My Life hits shelves, Sir David revealed: “They said, ‘No he wouldn’t do, he’s no good, he always plays hapless characters, losers, and the one thing about Derek Trotter is that he’s a winner.’”

But after convincing the bigwigs he was the man for the job, he became a national treasure in the hilarious comedy – before going on to become a family favourite as Pop Larkin in the Darling Buds of May and as detective Jack Frost.

And he revealed it was only after being forced to take part in a school play that he finally caught the acting bug.

Sir David added: “The headmaster decided he wanted to put the school on the map so he put on a play.

“So they started to rehearse this play and about two weeks before it was scheduled to go on, the boy who was to play the lead contracted the mumps and because I was known in the school as the local fool, the idiot, the headmaster thought who better to play this part than the school idiot.

“So he approached me and said I was going to take over and I said, ‘no sir, not for me, we don’t do that, that’s for sissies’ but he said, ‘let me put it this way, don’t make me have to tell you to do it’.”

The star dabbled in training as an apprentice electrician before a leg-up from his big brother Arthur finally put him on the road to fame and fortune.

He revealed: “I spent about a year writing letters to everyone to try and get a job as an actor and I got nothing but refusals but then I did a play which my brother came to see and he brought his friend along and this friend was also an actor but he was a director as well.

“Afterwards in the bar when we had a drink he said, ‘I may have a little tiny part in a play coming up’.”

Simon Oates phoned him back a few weeks later and told him to be at Bromley Theatre the following Tuesday at 10am – and he’s never looked back.